246.8 (11am)

Breakfast (1pm): 1.80 oz (raw wgt) 80/20 ground beef, 2.72 oz (raw wgt) bacon, 3.00 oz celery, 5.54 oz mushrooms, then mixed with 2.47 oz sour cream, salt & pepper

What's nice about adding celery like this breakfast mix is that it absorbs the extra fat, so you can increase your fat percentage without the meal tasting greasy.

Dinner (7pm): 21 grams butter, 13.51 oz green cabbage, 100 grams cheese and 50 grams heavy cream, salt and pepper

This was really good. I sauteed the cabbage in the butter with a bit of water until it was soft, then just stirred it into a bowl with the heavy cream and cheese.

Daily total (as reported the next day):

1498 calories, 129.7 grams fat, 39.9 grams - 12.5 grams fiber = 27.4 grams NET carbs, 50.9 grams protein

77%f, 10%c, 13%p

252.4 (6:20am)

Breakfast (1pm): Coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 8 drops EZ-Sweetz

Lunch (5:30pm): 1 Cup unsweetened almond milk with 26 grams Vanilla Designer whey, 5 ice cubes and some sugar free DaVinci pineapple syrup

Dinner (7:00pm): 4 oz (raw weight) 80/20 ground beef sauteed with 4 oz celery, 4 oz raw mushrooms and 8 oz green cabbage, then mixed into 2 oz sour cream

Snack (9:45pm): 7.80 oz cabbage with 2.93 oz (raw weight) bacon

Snack (10:15pm): 4.97 oz iceberg lettuce with 46 grams blue cheese dressing

Daily totals:

1587 calories, 131.6 grams fat, 48.8 grams -16.8 grams fiber = 32.0 grams NET carbs, 61.2 grams protein

74%f, 11%c, 15%p

248.4

O.K. - Obviously I have been eating well each morning and afternoon and then totally falling off plan each evening and eating whatever the heck I want. I am trying desperately to get back on track. My weight is back up 12.4 pounds from where I was. So not cool.

Breakfast (11am): coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 9 drops EZ-Sweetz.

I really think the coffee with heavy cream in the mornings works really well for me. (Keeping me full for a long time, making sure that my gall bladder empties each day). I will continue to stick with that.

Lunch (2:15pm): 1 cup unsweetened almond milk with 1 scoop Vanilla Designer Whey, a few ice cubes and sugar free DaVinci Pineapple Syrup

I am going to be trying to have the coffee in the morning and then 2 protein shakes (around 2 and then 5pm) each day and then a dinner that has 4 oz beef/pork/ or chicken and a total of about 1 pound veg with about 2 oz sour cream in the evenings. That way I won't have to weigh my meals as much (although I guess I will still note them in fitday).

248.0 (10am)

247.8

242.6

So last time I had asparagus it was a shooting migraine and this time it was a horrible stomach ache. Could they both be reactive responses or does the allergy always manifest with the same body response?

Breakfast: 49 grams heavy cream, coffee & 8 drops EZ-Sweetz

Lunch: I made the following concoction and am eating about half: 4.20 oz raw celery, 4.97 oz raw cauliflower, 13.51 oz raw weight 80/20 ground beef, 1 can green beans, 4.00 oz sour cream and 1.99 oz cheddar cheese

240.8

Lunch (noon): 5.43 oz (raw weight) asparagus with 16 grams butter and 5.22 oz (cooked weight) t-bone (weighed without bone).

Snack (2:10pm): Coffee with 51 grams heavy cream, 8 drops EZ-Sweetz, a few drops of vanilla extract

Dinner (6:00pm): We got Chinese food from the Golden Harvest. I got an eggroll, sweet and sour chicken and fried rice. I also ate some chicken broccoli and chow mein and regular coke (not diet). I was STUFFED.

What I want to note for myself (for future reference) is that my stomach hurt like a son of a bun ALL afternoon and night long. Accompanied by horrible watery diarrhea ALL day. Was it the asparagus? The book "The Plan" says that asparagus is one of the more reactive foods. I remember feeling bad after eating asparagus last time and writing it in the blog, but don't remember the specifics. My abdominal pain was both right and left sides, the entire area from my lower ribs all the way down. The was some bloating, a LOT of stomach gurgling as well. I will go back and see if I specified the same thing last time I ate it.

I have another 3/4 lb of asparagus left and am now scarred to try it. I am going to try to have a LCHF non-reactive food day and then probably try it day after tomorrow.

240.6 (@ 11:45am)

:)

I am super happy that I have been able to get back on track the last two days. It looks as if I have lost all my water weight now, as well. In fact, I imagine my weight will go up tomorrow, as I don't think I should be quite this low again, this fast.

Last night I ate a LOT of French Grey Sea Salt. I had this twinge the day before yesterday that let me know that I could be in for night leg cramps (Charlie Horses) if I didn't pay attention to my minerals. I usually use "Morton's Lite Salt" which has a lot of potassium, but even though I bought a new container a couple months ago, I can't find it for the life of me. I refuse to buy a new one though (because I am stubborn like that), because the moment I buy a new one, I will find the one I already bought. Anyway, the French Grey Sea Salt (McCormick brand), seemed to take care of whatever salt/potassium issues I was having. I also think that it probably has some good minerals in there. Anytime I find the salt essentially delicious to eat (by itself), I think it is a good indicator that I should eat it and that I am low on something. I have tried some bouillon in the past (I have some great beef bouillon in fact), but I try to avoid MSG (headaches) and bouillon always seems to have a lot of MSG in it.

240.6 would mean I am only really up about 5 pounds since my low. That's a lot, but also not nearly as bad as it could be. I am right at 20 pounds below where I was Jan 1st 2012. That's pretty slow progress I guess. (1.25 pounds per month), but I CAN tell even as slow as the weight loss has been. I am hopeful to stay on track for a good long time (months or longer I hope!), and take off another good portion.

Breakfast (noon): coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 8 drops EZ-Sweetz.

Lunch (2:10pm): 8.11 oz julienne sliced baby zucchini sauteed in 16 grams butter. 5.82 oz (cooked weight) chopped pork shoulder (really fatty pieces picked out and fed to my dog) mixed with 1.93 oz sour cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

This was surprisingly good. I wanted to make it with the stroghanof ground beef mushroom sauce I was eating a lot of a few weeks back, but I remembered I had the cooked pork shoulder in the refrigerator I needed to eat (so it wouldn't go bad). I prefer the ground beef mushroom sauce I was making in the past, but this WAS good. Unfortunately, I am already at 850 calories for the day, so not sure how much I can restrict my calories tonight. I'd rather eat higher calorie and not risk falling off track because of too high of hunger. I might head to the restaurant supply (Cash and Carry) and pick up another big box of mushrooms and a cabbage. The julienne slicer (I ordered off of ebay from China for $1.99 including shipping Item# 400407393591 green version - although I just looked at the price is now $2.69, but still a good value for this item) works great on the zucchini. I am also going to try it on carrots (in moderation with another veggie). I've also seen it used (online) with bell peppers or daikon radish, that would be low carb and delicious. I even think sauteed turnip would be excellent. I really find that the vegetables are what make this way of eating doable for me. You really have to come up with a way to add veggies that not only add volume to your meal, but also make it taste fresher and not so meaty and heavy. I think that is one of the biggest tricks to making this way of eating work. You can see in the picture above of my lunch, that the sauteed zucchini ended up being a good 1/2 of my meal at least. Not counting the butter that I sauteed the zucchini in (as I could have sauteed in a little water if I wanted to, to keep my calories a little lower), the zucchini was only 48 calories (7.2 carbs - 2.5 grams fiber = 4.7 NET carbs). As I love a LOT of different vegetables, I probably have more hope of success with this way of eating than other people do.

Snack (5:15pm): 3.81 oz jalapeno cheese

Snack (7:45pm): Hot cocoa made with 4 grams Hershey's baking cocoa powder, 10 drops EZ-Sweetz, 53 grams of heavy cream, hot water, a tiny pinch of salt and a couple drops of vanilla extract.

Daily Totals:

1,240 calories, 100.8 grams fat, 16.8 grams (-3.3 grams fiber) = 13.5 grams NET carbs, 69.3 grams protein

72%f, 5%c, 23%p

Before bed I again ate a bunch of French Gray Sea Salt. It tasted really good, so I probably needed it.

245.4 (9:00am)

Wow! I actually managed to not binge on crap food last night! It was my first day back on track in weeks. I am soooo excited to think I might be able to get back in ketosis and stay there. =)

Breakfast: coffee with 51 grams heavy cream and 7 drops EZ-Sweetz

Lunch: Can of kippered herring and salad made with 1 can of green beans, 100 grams of raw cauliflower, 19 grams mayo, splash of rice vinegar, a couple drops of EZ-Sweetz, garlic powder, pepper and salt

Dinner: 4.87 cooked weight pork shoulder (lean and fat eaten).

Daily totals:

1,008 calories, 76.2 grams fat, 17.9 grams (-7.9 grams fiber) = 10.0 grams NET carbs, 63.2 grams protein

68%f, 6%c, 26%p

Today was about as spot on with nutrition percentages and grams as I think I could get. I am very happy with those numbers. I cooked the pork in our new convection oven / microwave. I cooked with the convection setting for 2 hours at 300 F for a 23.5 oz piece of pork shoulder. It turned out really well, but took quite a bit longer than I thought it would. I will use this method in the future. I have quite a bit left over for the next couple of days too. I sprinkled it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, hungarian paprika and 2 drops of liquid smoke and then put a little bit of water in with it, so it wouldn't dry out too much.

246.0 (@ noon)

I have had the best of intentions every day for the last (3?) weeks and then have failed each day. I am going to try REALLY hard today to get back on track. I don't have any family functions to attend in the near future and I really want to get to feeling better again and losing some weight.

Breakfast: Coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 8 drops EZ-Sweetz.

Lunch: 30 grams summer sausage and 87 grams Brie cheese

Snack 7:45pm : English cucumber with salt. (I forgot to weigh it, but will find the average for this type on the net).

Snack (9:30pm): 2 Cups unsweetened almond milk

Final Daily Totals:

683 calories, 56.6 grams fat, 16.5 grams (-5.9 grams fiber) = 10.6 grams NET carbs, 28.8 grams protein

73%f, 10%c, 18%p

(it is the next day now... I am so happy that I was able to finish the day without binging on a bunch of carb junk. I feel like this might be a new start!)

247.6

Breakfast (11am): 50 grams heavy cream, coffee & 7 drops EZ-Sweetz

Lunch (2:45pm): 67 grams Brie cheese

Snack (3:15pm): 40 grams summer sausage and 5 grams dijon mustard

Snack (3:30pm): 79 grams cashews

245.8

Breakfast (11:00am): coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 9 drops EZ-Sweetz.

Lunch (3:45pm): took a lb of ground pork shoulder and spiced it with cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin and red pepper flakes. I then mixed in about 5 ounces of cream cheese (about 5/8 of a block) and spooned it into 6 large jalapeno peppers that had been split in half and cleaned. I am now baking the peppers and will have them later. For lunch I had the pork/cream cheese mixture (about 1/4 - 1/3 of the mixture) on top of iceberg lettuce with about 1/2 a cup of salsa. That was really good and filling.

Per fitday, if I can keep to eating the peppers tonight and nothing else I will end the day at:

1,923 calories, 150.6 grams fat, 48.4 grams (-8.4 grams fiber)= 40 grams NET carbs, 99.4 grams protein

70%f, 9%c, 21%p

I have been having a heck of a time getting back to low carb. I will be happy with today if I can stick to just having the jalapenos tonight. Although the calories are high, they are fine for slow weight loss.

245.0 @ 11:30 a.m. - New scale arrived today. =)

Well, I have been eating whatever the heck I wanted since March 23rd. I had a few controlled days in there, but most were a free-for-all. I was 236.0 on March 23rd. I have gained 9 pounds in the last 17 days, but I think (hope!) that I have 3-4 pounds of water weight...

Breakfast: 50 grams heavy cream, 8 drops EZ-Sweetz and coffee.

Snack (4pm): 28 grams cashew nuts & cup (black) sleepytime herbal hot tea

Snack (5:30pm): 3.42 oz raw turnip

???

My husband broke one of the plastic feet on my digital scale yesterday, so I ordered one from Walmart yesterday afternoon. It hasn't shipped yet, so I don't know yet when to expect it. So... no weight for a while. I had a headache/migraine allllll day long. I took 2 fast release ibuprofen and 2 diphenhydramine HCL around 2 and slept till 6pm. I have had a headache since then though. (It normally works to eliminate the headache for me). I still feel kinda sick to my stomach from the headache, but hopefully can get rid of it tonight.

243.4

Breakfast (10:30am): Coffee with 50 grams heavy cream and 7 drops EZ-Sweetz

244.4

This was another out of control day. It started with an avocado (weighed), then got 2 Banh Mi Sandwiches from a Vietnamese Sandwich shop in the valley. They were soooo dissapointing. I had such high hopes, because I had such amazing ones, when we lived in Oklahoma. I also had another frozen cheeseburger with mayo and pickles, a cinnamon hard candy, probably other stuff I don't remember as well.

I am REALLY going to try to get back on track today (this is the next day). I am not going to restrict calories at all for 4 days. Then I should be in ketosis and can start restricting calories.

243.0

10:30am: 1 mile walk at the Rotary Pond with my two dogs. Then I dropped a book off at the library.

Noon: coffee with 50 grams heavy cream, 7 drops EZ-Sweetz, and tiny pinch of salt (reduces coffee bitterness)

Snack (1:00pm) 28 grams cashews. I think the picture is interesting, because it shows how few nuts you get for 1 serving (163 calories, (8.4 - 0.9 fiber = 7.5 NET carbs). I am pretty good about almost always weighing out my nuts (in grams). I would say I weigh them about 95% of the time within the last few months. It's just way to easy to overeat anything that is added fat. The funny thing is, is with a low carb high fat diet, you need to eat more fat. But, I find that if I don't measure my fats, I ended up eating way too many to end up with any sort of weight loss. I am hoping with time, that I get a whole bunch of meals that I know what they come up to, and won't have to strictly measure in the same way. Anyway, what is interesting to me, is I went on a one mile walk this morning with my two dogs. Fitday says that I burned an extra 44 calories (base calories for sedentary day for my weight 243 is 2671, but adding in 22 minutes of 2.5 miles per hour walking plus 23 hours, 38 minutes of sedentary lifestyle = 2715 calories expended for the day). I would have to walk over three miles to account for that little itty bitty tiny pile of cashew nuts. THAT is why exercise doesn't work for weight loss. I am not walking because I think it will lead to weight loss. I am walking because it is supposedly good at improving insulin resistance. I also find that taking a walk around a pond in the beautiful spring morning sunshine is good for my mood (endorphins and such). I will never ever again in my life do cardio in an attempt to lose weight. I find that exercise definitely increases my appetite a LOT. In fact, I think exercise probably hurts weight loss.

Lunch (2:30pm): Light flatout wrap with 67 gams cream cheese, 9 grams jar jalapenos, 2.19 oz baked ham, pepper and garlic powder

After wrapping and cutting

Ugh. Embarrassing to write. It all went out of control again last night. It was a "binge" I think. Wonder bread sandwich with mayo and jalapeno cheese. Frozen cheeseburger with added mayo and pickles. Enchilada with spanish rice and sour cream. Homemade chocolate shake. TWO baked potatoes with garlic sauteed in butter, shredded cheese and sour cream.

I eventually went to sleep feeling like I was hungry and stuffed at the same time. I should have checked my insulin at that point. I would be curious to know what it was.